Hi Campbell, thanks for the email.   Why do we do what we do?  Well, I’ve seen that transportation, like communication, can empower individuals and communities.  It not only provides physical mobility, but it gives the individual greater CONTROL over time, potentially changing their worldview as well as their productivity. 

And the un-wanted bicycle is so ubiquitous in the United States that it represents a significant entré to American households, as well as a resource for efforts overseas…and because it is so common, and people can relate to it so positively, it provides an un-controversial community service opportunity engaging people in this country about issues of reuse/recycling, sustainable transportation, and human development/foreign assistance…without lecturing.   

I’d be glad to talk further, but please after Tuesday, when a Monday deadline is past and my wife departs for a three-week business trip. 

Regards,

We're still going forward with various Africa development programs and the providing of cheap, clean transportation to rural populations is obviously quite in line with our goals. Meanwhile, we are working with the fellow who wrote the bulk of Nepal's post-civil war constitution to provide a framework for Tunisia. Meanwhile, I'm building a team that will help to provide Tunisia with as much as possible in terms of assistance and expertise. Some of us will be moving there for the purpose. 

 

I've cc'd several of my colleagues in on this to facilitate planning. Campbell, I think Keith and you might be interested in having a discussion soon.

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 9:40 PM, Keith Oberg <koberg@verizon.net> wrote:

OK, but please, what’s relevant to bicycles? 

 

Keith Oberg

Director

Bikes for the World

3108 17th Street North

Arlington VA 22201

BfW Office 703-740-7856

Direct 571-212-4139

info@bikesfortheworld.org

www.bikesfortheworld.org

<image001.jpg>

 

"A bicycle can get someone someplace...like from poverty to self-sufficiency."

 

From: Barrett Brown [mailto:barriticus@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 5:47 PM

To: Keith Oberg
Subject: Re: info on assisting Bikes for the World

 

Fuck them, they're irrelevant. Read my various articles on Anonymous, including today's al-Jazeera op-ed.

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 3:21 PM, Keith Oberg <koberg@verizon.net> wrote:

Hi Barrett, let’s proceed. 

And in the meantime, I will definitely look for your book on creationism and intelligent design.  I need to understand how these people think, if that is the term to use.    

-k

Keith Oberg

Director

Bikes for the World

3108 17th Street North

Arlington VA 22201

BfW Office 703-740-7856

Direct 571-212-4139

info@bikesfortheworld.org

www.bikesfortheworld.org

<image001.jpg>

 

"A bicycle can get someone someplace...like from poverty to self-sufficiency."

 

From: Barrett Brown [mailto:barriticus@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2011 2:48 PM
To: Keith Oberg
Subject: Re: info on assisting Bikes for the World

 

Hello, Keith-

 

If you google my name in news, you'll find that I can now stop being cryptic and am ready to proceed if you're still interested.

On Mon, Jul 5, 2010 at 11:07 AM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, Keith-

 

Sorry to be so mysterious; I meant to convey that we will be in a better position to assist in your efforts. Everything is still very preliminary as regards the bulk of the money, but our potential to act has just recently increased quite a bit regardless. Do give me a ring when you have a moment, I'll be around.

 

On Mon, Jul 5, 2010 at 11:53 AM, Keith Oberg <koberg@verizon.net> wrote:

Hello Barrett, , your comment that you’ve “acquired a great deal of money and influence” prompts me to inquire more.  The obvious question is whether it directs you toward engaging the efforts to professionalize and scale up the “used bikes for individual empowerment and community development initiative”, to bypass existing efforts and launch your own, or go someplace elsewhere entirely.  

 

I can give you a call later today, my day is at home (number below) today and is flexible, I’ll be glad to call after lunch.

 

-k

Keith Oberg

Director

Bikes for the World

3108 17th Street North

Arlington VA 22201

Tel-fax 703-525-0931

info@bikesfortheworld.org

www.bikesfortheworld.org

<image001.jpg>

 

"A bicycle can get someone someplace...like from poverty to self-sufficiency."

 

From: Barrett Brown [mailto:barriticus@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2010 6:04 PM
To: Keith Oberg
Subject: Re: info on assisting Bikes for the World

 

Keith-

 

I apologize for the long delay in getting back to you; a number of things have happened over the past month which have acquired my attention. Would you be able to give me a call at 512-560-2302 at your convenience? We seem to have acquired a great deal of money and influence all of a sudden, and this changes the nature of what will be possible in terms of our Africa work.

On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 5:48 PM, Keith Oberg <koberg@verizon.net> wrote:

Hello Barrett, thanks for your email. 

 

Here’s an off-the-cuff reply, and let’s brainstorm further. 

First, we have no affiliate in Austin.  You could check with Bikes Not Bombs, a Boston-based non-profit.  I believe they have contacts in Austin.  Or check with Robin Stallings, an old friend and most recently executive director of the Texas Bicycle Coalition (headquartered in Austin).  Robin and I served on a board together in the late 1980s, providing the non-profit status for Bikes Not Bombs, and he may retain some of those local contacts.   

 

Bikes for the World does have volunteers and potential affiliates across the mid-Atlantic and mid-West regions, but things are still fairly centralized here in the greater Washington DC area.

 

Re distribution of your materials, BNB may be a better partner for that, especially in Ghana, as the international program is headed by a former Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana.  We’d be glad to include materials in a container, or provide addresses for African partners, but currently there are few, and the two that come to mind I judge unlikely to be interested.  Check out www.villagebicycleproject.org and www.psouganda.org for further info.

 

Which brings us to your third point.  We’d of course welcome any assistance in publicity, for ourselves and for the movement of which we are a part.  Although we are one of the newer groups (of half a dozen or so), we are now the largest, and have been asked to place shipments produced by other groups, or introduce them to our partners, owing to our 100% record in getting shipments into the countries we are seeking to assist.  The reason for our success, I believe, is our methodology, which requires that new partners be “invested” in the success of the project through paying a share of direct shipping costs ahead of time.  While this screens out many smaller, poorer organizations, it ensures that groups don’t “walk away” when shipments encounter delays, and extra storage and other port fees, in Customs.  

 

Let’s brainstorm more, and see if there is a story line or angle that one of your publications might find interesting.    Maybe, for example, interview some bicycle donors about their bikes, their use/history/emotional significance, and then follow those bikes overseas, and get the stories on their eventual destination and use??  Or the growing “affluenza” epidemic, as seen in the cycling area?? 

 

All the best,

 

-k

 

Keith Oberg

Director

Bikes for the World

3108 17th Street North

Arlington VA 22201

Tel-fax 703-525-0931

info@bikesfortheworld.org

www.bikesfortheworld.org

<image001.jpg>

 

"A bicycle can get someone someplace...like from poverty to self-sufficiency."

 

From: Barrett Brown [mailto:barriticus@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 2:47 PM
To: yvette@bikesfortheworld.org; info@bikesfortheworld.org
Subject: info on assisting Bikes for the World

 

Hi, Yvette-

 

I'm the head of an organization called Project PM which is in the early stages of setting up a program to assist with sustainable development in Africa and developing efficient ways for other orgs to do likewise, and I had a couple of questions for you. First, is there a local chapter of your org in Austin? Secondly, we're preparing an educational program whereby we plan to distribute information on easily-implemented but little-known engineering projects involving pumps, water wheels, and other simple procedures by which to improve the productivity of African villages, and we were wondering if your organization would be interested in distributing those pamphlets by way of your partnered organizations on that continent. We'd also be interested in learning about other ways by which we could assist your organization; I write for Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, and a variety of other publications, so at the very least I could help to increase awareness of what you're doing and how others could help. 

 

Please get back to me at your convenience if you'd be interested.

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
Brooklyn, NY
512-560-2302

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

---

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--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

---

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3447 - Release Date: 02/16/11

--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

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Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 10.0.1204 / Virus Database: 1435/3449 - Release Date: 02/17/11